The SW/TX PCA/ACA area chair invites papers on Comics, Graphic Novels and Popular Culture.

Any Aspect of Comics and Graphic Novels in Popular Culture will be considered.

Possible panel/discussion topics

With the recent rise in the Superhero movies, a discussion of 2011's summer of the superhero or superflop would be welcome eg., Captain America, Green Lantern, Thor, X-Men First Class. What is the future of the superhero based movie?

Pedagogical approaches to teaching graphic novel content. This has become an increasingly important part of comic studies and the area chair seeks those scholars who would like to present on this topic.

Zombies and Vampires in comics continue to rise in popularity. Why are these monsters ideally suited for four colored pages?

Other topics:

Sequential Art and Storytelling Manga, Anime and the Movies Comic-Conventions-Fan Culture Particular Artists or writers (Bendis, Steranko, Kirby, Everett, Niles, etc) The Rise of the Graphic Novel What is a Graphic Novel? History of Newspaper Comics! Gay Characters in comics Film and Superheroes! Adapting Graphic Novels for the Screen Racism and the X-Men Spiderman as the Everyman Cartoon Network: Good or Bad for Comics Comics and Philosophy Graphic Novels as outlets for social justice (ie,, World War III ) Comics as political satire (eg,., Tom Tomorrow, Addicted To War ) Horror Comics The Resurrection of Captain America-Why NO comic character ever stays dead? DC, Marvel, and Comic corporations Comics Studies and Film Studies: How do the two intersect? The Definition of the Superhero. Indies and their role Comics and Graphic Novels around the world (eg., Tintin, Asterix). The scholarly study of Graphic Novels/comics in the academy Libraries and Graphic Novels